History Midterm

History 121

Mid-Term

1. Discuss and explain what is meant by “American Turnings” by choosing “Two Turnings” and then explore how the clash of different generations shaped these “Turnings”. Be specific by providing good historical examples

- American Turnings refer to four-stage cycles of identifiable and a characteristic social mood. Americans tend to enter a turning once every twenty years and the people change how they feel about themselves and their nation, society, culture, even future in each turning. The four-stage tunings recur over the centuries and the order of the turnings is as follows and these four always come in the same order: a High-an Awakening-an Unraveling and a Crisis.

The generational archetypes repeat in a four-stage cycle where it is implied that these archetypes are formed by recurring characteristic social mood during the eras. A generation can be defined as all people who were born over a span of twenty years or so. History puts importance on understanding what happens to generations together and exploring how the clash of different generations shapes the Turnings. Constellations of different generations are thought to change the society and lead to significantly different social results. To help explain what is meant by American Turnings, Two turnings of a Crisis and a High are to be discusses by exploring how the clash of different generations shaped these two turnings.

A crisis is the fourth turning of a cycle. It is an era of an upheaval which occurs in response to a perceived threat to the nation’s survival. This is the time Old Artists disappear, Prophets enter elder hood, Nomads enter midlife, Heroes enter young adulthood, and a new generation of child Artists is born. During the World War II, we had judgmental old Prophets and pragmatic midlife Nomads. Team-playing young Heroes and young Artists also form the tuning of a Crisis. During the World War II, an archetype of Hero was born and it is G.I generation, who developed a special reputations as “good kids” and later GI generation invented miracle vaccines and launched moon rackets in the American High when they entered midlife. The Lost Generation, with a “bad kid” reputation experienced the Great Depression and the World War II in their midlife, at the peak of their careers.

After the World War II, the U.S experienced an era of the American High, the first turning. It is the time when America ascendancy as a global superpower. The middle class grew and prospered. G.I generations entered midlife in American High and acted as America’s confident and rational problem solvers who helped overcome the Crisis and lead to the era of a High. At the same time, Silent generation entered young adulthood in this era, and they were thought to be a hypocritical or adaptive generation. They tended hold only second in command. The G.I.